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Monday, May 31, 2021

As hate surges, prominent European Jews worry war against antisemitism is lost

 Via Times of Israel:

In Germany, a man wearing a kippah was beaten on the street. In Austria, a student was harassed on the train for reading a book mentioning Jews in the title.

In London, a nurse said she was threatened at her hospital for wearing a Star of David necklace. And in Belgium, an Orthodox Jewish woman was told “Get away, dirty Jewess” by a man with whom she tried to share a park bench.

The full dimensions of Europe’s current surge in antisemitic activity are not yet clear, but by some measures, including those by the British Jewish community, the extent is unprecedented. Meanwhile, the range and density of incidents are unusual.

Local Jewish leaders are responding with sometimes uncharacteristic pessimism.
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Sunday, May 30, 2021

Belgium: Flemish public TV - If Jews are "chosen" they should act it, minister with Jewish ancestry might not be objective, Israel only vaccinates Jews

 



Via Elder of Zion:

This is sort of unreal.

On a Flemish public TV show, which appears to have aired even before the current Gaza war, there are four segments:

The first, with the Bishop of Antwerp defining Judaism and telling Jews what their moral obligations are. Obviously, Palestinians have no such moral imperatives.

...

Segment 2 shows Meryem Almaci, head of the Green Party, also telling Jews what they need to do in order to gain the approval of enlightened antisemites like her:

...

Then there is a panel discussion about Sophie Wilmès, Belgium's Foreign Minister, and whether her mother's Jewish background disqualifies her on issues related to Israel. Even though she was brought up Catholic, she has those Jew genes that means that you might not be able to trust her.

...

Finally, we have a classic blood libel, where Jews are spreading the plague among goyim while they remain secure in their ghettoes.

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UK: Jewish actors fear being ‘blacklisted’ for connection to Israel

Via Jewish Chronicle:

Jewish actors have told the JC that they are terrified of being “blacklisted” for having any connection to Israel and are hiding their identity in order to make sure they get work.

There is also deep concern that far from supporting its Jewish members, the actors’ union, Equity, is “fanning the flames of antisemitism”.

Dame Maureen Lipman this week resigned from the union in fury after it called on members to join Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march in London, at which protesters burned Israeli flags and held up antisemitic placards.

Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman — who also voiced her outrage over the Equity statement — said Jewish actors were beginning to hide their Stars of David at auditions.

“We are terrified of being thought of as Zionists,” she said. “One actor was turned on when it was found that they had family in Israel.

“Jewish actors are frightened of owning their identity, and they are scared that they will be blacklisted.”

One young actor told the JC: “It was the first day of a Zoom read-through for a possible new theatre show. We all introduced ourselves online, which is standard practice — who we are, where we are from, what we have been up to professionally.

When it was my turn, having had very little acting work due to the pandemic, I explained that I had been working on a treatment, hopefully for TV, based on my own family’s experience and history of fleeing pogroms in Russia.

“In front of the whole cast and director, an actor sneered on the screen and told me ‘look what you’re doing in Palestine. That’s a pogrom’.

“I felt sick. Like the two are somehow connected and I had to feel the weight of responsibility to defend myself against something that had nothing to do with me or my own family’s lived experience, that our own personal horrors were somehow being dismissed and diminished. The Chinese actor in the same cast was not made to feel the same fear in having to speak about the Uyghurs.

“So it’s hard not to feel unsafe as a Jewish actor — and it’s made me feel that I won’t be talking about my heritage or Jewish identity going forward.”

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Thursday, May 27, 2021

UK: Police investigating attack on Jewish-owned business in Derry as hate crime

 
Via Belfast Telegraph:

Police are investigating a hate crime in Londonderry connected with the recent escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine.

The business premises of a Jewish person were painted with graffiti.

Enquiries into the incident, which was reported last Saturday, May 15, are ongoing, the PSNI said.

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Belgium: Soccer star unapologetic for chanting he’d ‘rather die than be a Jew’

 
Via Times of Israel:

A professional soccer player from Belgium who sang with fans that he’d “rather die than be a Jew” has defended his actions, which are now the subject of a disciplinary review.

Noa Lang wrote an unapologetic message on Instagram on Saturday following the discovery of a video showing the 21-year-old Holland native chanting about Jews following a match in which his club, Brugge, defeated the Anderlecht team of Brussels.

The reference to Jews, according to Belgian sports papers, was about supporters and players of Anderlecht, whom rival teams refer to as “Jews.” The same phenomenon exists for Amsterdam’s Ajax team, the Tottenham Hotspur club of London, and Bayern, Munich’s soccer club.

Ignoring calls to apologize, Lang wrote that he didn’t mean to offend but would not like to further discuss the subject.

“My dad’s Surinamese and my mother’s Dutch. I know all about racism and bias,” he said. “I chanted enthusiastically with supporters I met for the first time after winning. As a former Ajax fan I know very well the soccer world’s nicknames. I did not mean to offend anyone. I’m done with the subject and won’t be revisiting it.”

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Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Germany: Man attacked in Munich because he was mistaken for a Jew


 Via Bild:

Last Saturday night, a (non-Jewish) man was sitting outside a restaurant with a friend, when a passer-by punched him to the floor and shouted "Jew-pig, you dirty hipster!" while grappling with him.  The attacker, who was with a friend, then ran away.

Both men were arrested.  They had previously sat in the same restaurant, getting drunk, and were finally thrown out.  The attacker is a German-Mexican national.

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UK: Belfast synagogue threatened to be picketed if the Jewish community did not condemn Israel

 
Via Belfast Telegraph:

In a separate incident, the synagogue in north Belfast was threatened to be picketed if the Jewish community did not condemn Israel for recent air strikes in Gaza.

The threat disrupted the Shavuot service, a Jewish holiday. The service managed to go ahead with 10 congregants — the minimum number of people required for Jewish communal worship.

More congregants were expected to attend but had been discouraged by the threat, which was received via a phone call.

The PSNI are “monitoring the situation” and are “treating this as a hate incident at this stage”.

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Sunday, May 23, 2021

Netherlands: Holocaust monument in Cuijk defaced with white paint and the text ‘free Palestine’




Via Netherlands News Live (translated from NOS):

The Jewish monument in Cuijk is covered with white paint and the text ‘free Palestine’. It is unclear who is behind the action. The police say they are looking for witnesses.

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Saturday, May 22, 2021

UK: Norwich synagogue defaced with slurs, "Free Palestine", swastika

via Arieh Kovler:

  The synagogue in Norwich, England this morning. Police are appealing for witnesses


 

Germany: Lebanese-born man arrested for planned attack on Bremen synagogue

 Via Jerusalem Post:

German police in the northern city of Bremen arrested a 42-year-old man on Wednesday for a planned attack on a synagogue in the city’s Schwachhausen district. This man was also born in Lebanon.

"An individual intended to attack the synagogue in Bremen," states an exclusive report by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

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Friday, May 21, 2021

Germany: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shout “fuck the Jews” (“scheiss Juden”) in front of a Synagogue

 

Netherlands: Pro-Palestinian protersters shout threats against Jews, "Khaybar, Khaybar o Jews, the army of Muhammad is coming"

 

Thursday, May 20, 2021

UK: Two arrested over antisemitic assault which hospitalised young Essex Rabbi outside synagogue on Sunday

Via Campaign Against Antisemitism:

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of religiously-aggravated assault over an antisemitic attack which hospitalised Rabbi Rafi Goodwin on Sunday.

Leeds-born father of two Rabbi Goodwin, who is in his thirties, was brutally beaten with a blunt object, sustaining head injuries, according to the police.

The United Synagogue, the umbrella body to which Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue belongs, said that Rabbi Goodwin sustained injuries necessitating a stay in hospital so that he could be treated and assessed for concussion. A police statement issued soon after the incident added that he was treated for cuts to his head and eye.

Essex Police said: “It is believed that two teenagers stepped out in front of the victim’s vehicle whilst he was driving, they shouted at him and spoke in a derogatory way about his religion before going on to damage his car. When he got out of his car to confront them, he was attacked with an unknown object causing him to require hospital treatment. During the attack the victim’s phone was also stolen.” Chief Superintendent Stuart Hooper added: “At this time we do not believe this incident is related to events taking place overseas or incidents which have taken place elsewhere in the country.”
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Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Austria: Someone shouted at Jewish students, “you can shove your Holocaust up your ass.” Everyone clapped.

Belgium: Pro-Palestinian protesters in Brussels call "Khaybar, Khaybar o Jews, the army of Muhammad is coming"

 

UK: Mezuzahs ‘removed, destroyed and trodden on’ in antisemitic spree

Via Jewish News:

Two Jewish families were left “petrified” after one had their mezuzah ripped from their doorframe, while another discovered their parchment had been “maliciously” removed, scrunched up and trodden into the ground.

Police are treating the incidents, which occurred at neighbouring properties in Borehamwood during daylight hours on Monday, as a racially motivated crime.

Speaking to Jewish News, Martine Stone, 55, described how she has been “feeling physically sick” since discovering her mezuzah had been destroyed.

She said: “At about 5pm yesterday, I picked up a package from Amazon and then saw something on the ground. I realised it was my mezuzah, lying on the floor broken. The top had been opened and the parchment had been taken out, scrunched up and then trodden into the mud.

“It had been deliberately sabotaged. That’s what really upset me, the maliciousness of the act.

“We are the only two Jewish families in this section of our road, which is a beautiful, multicultural neighbourhood. I got such a shock.

“We’ve had that mezuzah for years. My son is now 18 and we’ve had it all his life, so it’s very special to us.

“I can’t get that image out of my head of seeing it scrunched up and trodden into the ground. In all my life I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The mother-of-one, who is studying for a PhD, added: “It’s had a terrible effect. My son and I couldn’t sleep last night and I’ve been throwing up. I think I went into shock.”

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